Israel Llamas attempts to attract Snowbirds into the Guadalajara Pharmacy, as competition is fierce amongst the dozens of drug stores. No prescriptions are required in Algodones, including for drugs like prozac.
The dusty medical utopia of Algodones is a small Mexican town on the border
with America. Each year huge convoys of Winnebago’s, driven by elderly
Americans, lumber slowly over the border (as thousands of illegal immigrants
head in the opposite direction) in the search of medical relief.
On the town’s two main streets there are 280 registered doctors and dentists
and a further 28 dental labs working round the clock to supply dentures, bridges
and crowns. In fact there are more dentists per square foot than any other
place on earth. The cost of private medical work is up to a third of the price
than it is across the border in the US, so each year Americas OAPs come to
have annual check-ups and major operations where they can save $1000s. The
quality of work is, mostly, very good and many Mexican doctors, trained in
the US, will return and work in Algodones where they can run lucrative private
practices.